300 Mr. Cx. A. K. Marshall on 



any signs of distaste. Subsequently gave her Mylothris 

 agathina, which was also eaten. 



Experiment (1. — March 28. I gave a male A. scrcna to 

 Mantis. After a few moments she cauglit it and ate a bit 

 out of the wings, but soon threw it down. The butterfly 

 at once walked straight back to her and was promptly 

 caught again, and after a single bite was again rejected. 

 On looking a few hours afterwards I found it had been 

 eaten. I then gave her a P. tropicalis and an Alxna 

 amazoula, both of which were eaten, the latter wings 

 and all. 



Experiment c. — March 29. I gave Mantis one Eiirytrla 

 hiarhas, one I\//ramds cardui, one Junonia dclia. All 

 "were eaten. 



Experiment /. — March 30. I put one male A. sercna, 

 one P. demodocns, one N. agafha, and one P. frojncalis into 

 the Mantis' cage at the same time. They were caught 

 and eaten in the order mentioned without any sign of 

 distaste. Immediately after she had finished I put in a 

 brilhant dark-blue moth with orange markings {Egyholis 

 vaillantina), which has a strong smell. To my surprise she 

 completely demolished it, and then ate a second P. 

 dcmodoats. 



Experiment g. — March 31. Gave Mantis a P. demodocns 

 in the morning, wduch she ate : in the afternoon crawe her 

 one Z. clirysiiypus, which she ate without any ado, and 

 immediately afterwards a female H. misipints. I then 

 gave her an Aercva natalica, which she quickly seized, 

 but on biting the thorax dropped it at once. For some 

 time she paid no attention to it, but later on tried it 

 again, biting a little out of the wings and then dropping 

 it again ; after which she had nothing more to do with it. 

 Subsequently put in a Papilio h7Yisidas, which was promptly 

 eaten. 



Experiment //. — April 1. In the morning gave Mantis 

 an A. Serena. She caught it, and after eating the apex of 

 one fore-wing threw it doAvn, but a few seconds after she 

 caught it again, nibbled a bit out of the costa of fore-wing 

 and again threw it down. After a short interval the 

 butterfly walked past her, she seized it, bit at the thorax 

 and at once rejected it. A few moments later she made a 

 fourth attempt, this time eating iialf an antenna, but again 

 found the taste too much for her, I then removed the 

 butterfly and put in an A. eneedon, but after nibbling a 



